


Operation "Bloody Face Off"

by La_perlas_mermaid, usernamesweretaken



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2020-11-24 00:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20898953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/La_perlas_mermaid/pseuds/La_perlas_mermaid, https://archiveofourown.org/users/usernamesweretaken/pseuds/usernamesweretaken
Summary: How wrong could a day possibly go? Nick is having a bad day, and just as things are about to get better, they get a whole lot worse. A collaboration between la perlas mermaid and usernamesweretaken.





	1. How wrong could a day possibly go?

**Author's Note:**

> usernamesweretaken notes: That's how wrong a day could possibly go. This was my first time working on a collab with someone, and I feel like it went pretty smoothly. Our writing styles aren't identical, so we'll see where this goes, but I'm looking forward to it!
> 
> la perlas mermaid notes: So I've done requests before but this is the first time I've done a proper collab, so far it's a pretty fun thing to do and it's great to have someone to help you with a story. So this is how things go: I was in charge of most of the first chapter and usernamesweretaken will handle the second one and so forth, which means there will be a shift in writing styles from chapter to chapter. We have created a basic outline together to keep things cohesive. Hope you enjoy!

The world is an awful, merciless place. It is corrupted, indifferent and above all hypocritical. And if the world is bad, then the rainforest district is even worse; a cruel concrete jungle that looks like an overgrown garden, where the rich stomp on the poor and the ones left behind are destined to disappear into the void. Mammals believe they have evolved beyond the cruelty of the jungle law, but society is just a vague veneer of rose-colored glasses that makes us think life is fair when in reality it is not. Well… at least that’s what Julien believes.

Julien is a Kinkajou that lives above the trees in the rainforest district, his modest apartment is one of many compounds that border the river dam, the howling noise of the water and the turbines working away inside of it have become part of his life. Most of his neighbors have gotten used to it by now but he has always felt like the continuous noise and the lack of peace will drive him mad one day. He hates this district with a burning passion but doesn’t have the means to go anywhere else.

Earning minimum wage and working overtime just to make ends meet has left him with very little time or money for entertainment, so he spends what little free time he does have climbing over the tallest branches and looking down at the mammals below, rows and rows of busy streets staked on tiers. Over time he has gone from feeling amusement at the thousands of mammals stuck in the same grind as him to feeling anger and resentment towards them.

A few years ago he had some hopes, at least of becoming something more than a broke ass loser. Tired of being called a failure throughout most of his high school years he had tried to join the Todesregen mafia after dropping out of school. However, he couldn’t pass the initiation rite of taking a beating from all twelve members of a low tier gang. By the third mammal he had to fight, he had been in so much pain he called it quits and ran away. Now, whenever he walks by their turf he hears their howls of laughter and insults of “little bitch”; the embarrassment has haunted him ever since.

He hates them all, he hates the gangsters that make life miserable for poor mammals like him, the police that would rather turn a blind eye before confronting the problem, and the so-called honest citizens that just bow their heads and let this all happen. But he hates the leader of the Todesregen the most, the one ruling the organization that could have taken him away from this miserable neighborhood and given some meaning to his pathetic life. His favorite pastime is to lurk from the highest branch and observe that jaguar while daydreaming about crushing that mobster to the ground. Look at the fucker, drowning in stolen goods and surrounded with females while the rest of the district rots under his rule. One of these days he will have his revenge.

Until one day, it happened, a mighty earthquake that tore the dam holding the central river of the district.

* * *

_ I’m an idiot _ , Nick thought to himself. Oh, he had everything planned, a seemingly casual outing with his friend that would slowly turn romantic until at the end of the day he would ask her to be his girlfriend, should she say yes he would take her to dinner at a fancy place to celebrate and make it all the more memorable, starting with the right foot and all. He even had a plan B, since he would have the entire day to read and gauge her reactions to see if he had a chance with her. Should she not show any interest, he could abort the mission and keep things casual between them without telling her how he truly felt. Sure, if it came to that he would mope once he got home, but his pride and their friendship would be intact.

But for a smart streetwise city fox, his plans had gone tails up far too quickly; their outing had been one disaster after another.

First, it was the movie fiasco. He picked the film himself, it was supposed to be an indie romantic comedy but halfway through, the film became a subversion of romantic tropes. What was supposed to be a harmless romance between two otters ended up as a slasher flick where the male protagonist became a deranged serial killer that tried to kill the female lead, turning her into a final girl. Judy loved the film, she laughed excitedly when the gore fest erupted on the screen, claiming it was finally getting fun. Turns out she did like romantic comedies but slasher films were her favorite. He, on the other paw, couldn’t handle the excessive brutality and had to leave the theater to empty his lunch into the nearest toilet. To add insult to injury Judy got worried and followed him to the bathroom, and since she couldn't come in she stayed outside and kept asking him if he was alright, loud enough to call the attention of the employees and many other mammals passing by. Real smooth Wilde, such a ladies male, it’s not like you were expecting a kiss today.

And now the chance to assess her in a future romantic setting was gone up in smoke. she spent the rest of the day fussing over him like a worried mother on her kit, or perhaps to be more accurate an older sister over her younger sibling. 

Realizing he would have to abort his romantic plans for the day, he texted Finnick not to save the reservation on the “Passion Flower”, a very romantic restaurant in the rainforest district, and since the building was perched high above the river on an artificial tree branch, it had one of the most beautiful views in all Zootopia. 

[What happened dude? Did she say no?] The fennec fox’s reply appeared on his cell phone screen.

[I’m not asking her today. I screwed up on the movies and made a fool of myself.]

[No way mammal, I’ve been hearing you bitching about that bunny for months and I’m not taking any more of that bullshit. You are taking that fluffbutt to diner TODAY and you’re either getting laid so you can stop your whining or she’s ditching you so you can finally move on and get a nice vixen tail like any sane fox would.]

[Get off my back Finn, I’m not risking my chances today, I’ll have to try later on.]

Just as Nick was putting away his phone, Judy got a notification on hers.

“Huh, Finn just texted me,” she said puzzledly. “He says to tell you that your dinner reservations are ready and we should be there by eight-thirty. I didn’t know you wanted to have dinner today. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to do that?”

Nick groaned frustratedly and facepalmed so hard his paw must have left a bruise on his forehead. How the hell did he even get Judy’s phone number anyway? Seriously, that tiny fox always seemed to have an ace up his sleeve. Ugh screw it, the only thing that scared him more than Judy’s rejection was facing Finn’s wrath.

The view from the restaurant’s terrace at sunset was supposed to be breathtaking, it had been ever since it was built. Sadly, an earthquake had broken the river dam, dropping the water level of the district’s main river dangerously low. Because of this and in order to save water until the construction was fixed, the sprinklers around the district were shut down. For the last two weeks, the delicate plant species of the district had been deprived of water and begun to dry off and die, so now the terrace has a full-fledged view of dying vegetation.

“It’s still beautiful, in a way, you know?” Judy said, looking over the landscape below. She was leaning forward over the rail, giving him a nice view of her cute, perfect tail pointing upwards and shaking a little bit.

“Yup, one hundred percent,” Nick answered while drinking his blueberry juice in a martini glass (it was a fancy place, he might as well keep things classy).

“There aren’t many chances to see the rainforest like this. It’s always supposed to be this lush green but now there are these dark blotches between the trees that are still alive, it makes the surviving ones look brighter,” she said, a sweet smile and a dreamy look in her eyes.

Not caring at all about the previous mishaps from the bad day, he gently scooted closer to her and placed his arm around her shoulders. She instinctively snuggled into the embrace.

The forest below them was dying, but sooner or later the sprinklers would be restored and it would be brought back to life. Dying nature can lead to beautiful moments like these, sharing an embrace with someone you love, just like bad days can lead to great endings.  _ Oh, why not? Let’s take the plunge and see what happens _ . Nick thought to himself

Just as he was about to confess his love towards her, Judy became alert and pointed towards the foliage below “Nick look! There’s some strange movement there, somebody is running through the trees.”

“So?” Nick wondered. “Maybe they’re hiking or something.”

“That area has been cleared, civilians aren’t allowed there and no authorized personnel would be working there on a Sunday evening.” Judy had her ears high in alertness, her whole body tense, almost like a predator about to pounce.

“You’re right, Carrots, I’ll notify the precinct and then we’ll…” Nick said, grabbing his phone but he stopped mid-sentence as he saw his partner jumping from the terrace and into the trees below, there were enough branches nearby for her to land in, but seeing her jump from one to another knowing they were dry enough to snap at any second made him groan in exasperation.

He sent a message to Delgato, who was on dispatch today. [Suspicious activity in the area below the “Passion Fruit”, Hopps and I are on the scene but we might need backup.] Seriously, why did they always have to be the ones to stumble into things? And they were off duty, too.

Pocketing his phone, he dedicated no more than one second to complaining about falling in love with a crazy adrenaline junkie and leapt after her.

He wanted to believe he did a decent job at following her, sure some of the thinner branches cracked a little under his weight but for the most part, he made it to her side in little time. They were at ground level now, close to the construction area where the dam was being repaired.

She was paralyzed and alert looking beneath her, “Don’t move,” the doe warned in a tone that left no room for discussion

“What is it, Carrots?” He asked quietly, scanning the area and looking for a possible perp nearby, but before she could answer, he saw it right between Judy’s feet.

It was tiny, difficult to spot below the tall dry grass, but it was clearly a bomb.


	2. A Sticky Situation

She’s standing on top of a bomb. There’s a bomb beneath her. Between her legs is an explosive device.  _ She is standing. On top of a bomb. _ No matter how many ways Nick tried to think it, it never felt real. Or right. She is standing on top of a bomb. Very much not right. “Uh… Nick? Could you call this in? I don’t really want to move right now.” Judy’s voice snapped him out of his trance.

“What? Oh! Yes! Yes. I can call this in. That is something that I can do. Yes.”  _ She is standing on top of a bomb. _ Nick’s hands shook slightly as he took his phone out of his pocket and opened up his contacts. He tapped on Delgato’s number and the phone began to ring, once,  _ She’s standing on top of a bomb _ , twice,  _ What would happen if it blew up? _ And three times. Finally, the ringing stopped.

“Wilde, you know that you’re supposed to contact dispatch for this kind of thing, even when you’re off duty.” The lion wasn’t angry, far from it. Nick had only been on the force for about a month, and it took time to get used to the structure of the ZPD. All he was doing was reminding him.

“Ummm…—”

“And if you do need to contact me while I’m on-duty, you’re supposed to call my work line and not my private one.”

“Err…—”

“When you call m—”

“Delgato! Can you save the lecture for another time?”

“...what is it, Wilde?”

“We found a bomb.”

* * *

It only took a few minutes after the call was made for the bomb squad from the local precinct to arrive, and it only took a few more minutes for them to determine that it was safe for Judy to move. Judy was obviously very relieved, but maybe not as much so as Nick was, even though he hadn’t been the one standing over the bomb.

What Judy had been standing over wasn’t, in fact, where the bulk of the explosives had been. It was only the detonator. The majority of the explosives were located underneath a pile of dried leaves on the other side of a nearby bush, with a cable connecting the two parts. The detonator consisted of a cheap cell phone, which was wired to send a signal through the cable when the phone received a call. The wiring was amateurish and looked like it had been taken straight from a Ewetube tutorial.

The explosive itself was far more concerning. Four elephant-sized water bottles had been filled with gasoline and strapped to a large firework. The explosion on its own wouldn’t be very powerful, but fireball it would cause wouldn’t have any problem setting the dried landscape around it ablaze.

Judy, being the workaholic she was, had immediately forgone her day off and jumped right into the maelstrom of tension that was the ZPD. Nick had no choice but to follow. The area had to be evacuated, forensics had to examine the area, sniffers had to be brought in, and the public had to be managed.

The smallest officers on the force were among those working on the last of those jobs. Wherever a large number of police officers go, large numbers of the press soon follow. Most of them respected the barriers, but some of them caused more trouble. More than one mammal tried to just walk right past her and Nick because they weren’t in uniform. Judy even spotted a goat trying to climb a tree to get past the officers guarding the scene.

Soon, however, the press had a much more interesting, but far from unrelated story to tell, the ramifications of which made managing the public far harder than keeping journalists out of a crime scene: someone had claimed responsibility for the bomb.

At first, it was only rumors, murmurs in the crowd. But that all changed when a recording of a distorted voice mysteriously arrived at the offices of every major news network in the area.

“Good evening, Zootopia! As you may have noticed, there’s been a bit of police drama in the rainforest district. The authorities aren’t telling you what’s going on, but I can tell you what caused it. In fact, it was a bomb. What the cops don’t know is that it isn’t the only one. Hidden across the rainforest district are many more. I should know, I was the one that placed them there.”

“Hey, I might be the one trying to set this district on fire, but I wasn’t the one that ruined it. No, that happened a long time ago and ALL OF YOU are to blame for it.”

“For years the Todesregen mafia has made life miserable for hundreds of mammals. They took our money, our possessions, and our lives, and nobody seems to care! They might have turned this whole district into a pile of shit, but YOU are the ones that chose to sit on your fat asses and let it happen.”

“The cops say they have the situation under control and that’s a huge lie. They let the mafia take over our district for years. They haven’t done anything in the past and they won’t start being useful now either.”

“Who am I? You might wonder. Well, I’m just an ordinary citizen that lives at the bottom. I’m so meaningless I have nothing left to lose, so I chose to do all of you a favor. I’m gonna clean up this fucking district once and for all, even if that means I have to burn it down to do so. This is how it works: clean the district yourselves, or I’ll do it myself, by destroying it.”

“This is your final warning: If the head of the leader of the Todesregen mafia stabbed on the flagpole of the police district in twenty-four hours, I’ll set off the bombs and burn the whole place down. It’s up to you.”

The entire city erupted into panic-induced chaos. Most tried to play it off as a bluff, that there couldn’t possibly be more than one bomb, but in each mammal was a measure of doubt. The more everyone tried to reassure each other, the more they saw the fear in others, which only served to enhance that of it in themselves. When the bomb crew’s scouring the area found a second bomb, almost all pretense of a bluff was lost, and the mayor called a mandatory evacuation of the district.

* * *

“Hopps! Wilde! You two are on evacuation enforcement in the eastern section of the rainforest district. Wolford! Fangmeyer! You take the south. Grizzoli! Jackson!...” Chief Bogo continued to list names of officers and assignments. Most of them would be helping in the rainforest district, but a few had other, more typical jobs.

Nick and Judy had stayed up all night already and were on their ninth straight hour of overtime. “You up for another eight hours of telling mammals to leave their homes against their will, Carrots?”

“They don’t have a choice, Nick. If they don’t leave, they might die.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nick yawned. “I still don’t feel good doing it, though. It’s almost as bad as parking duty.”

“It’s not  _ that _ bad.”

“Well, it isn’t great, either.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

Evacuation enforcement was pretty much as it had been overnight. They would knock on each door, and if anyone was home, they would give them a few minutes to grab anything important, and then they would leave. More than a few times, the occupants didn’t have any desire of leaving, with multiple mammals shouting at the officers. Once, they even had to threaten to drag a particularly contentious individual away in pawcuffs.

They had gone through almost the entire district when Bogo radioed them .

“All units are ordered to leave the district at once, I repeat: All units are ordered to leave the district at once.”

“This is Hopps, Sir we only have one more neighborhood to clear out,” Judy answered.

“I don’t care. It’s been twenty-three and a half hours since the terrorist made his threat, and we’ve only found two more bombs. Get out of there, that’s a direct order.”

“Chief we can still get more mammals out”

“There isn’t enough time, Hopps. You and Wilde did your best but if you don’t leave now you’ll just create more unnecessary casualties.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t just leave these mammals defenseless against a bomb; I can’t leave, at least not until everyone is safe.”

“Officer Hop—!” Bogo’s growling shouts were cut short as Judy turned off the radio.

“Carrots…” Nick warned.

“If we don’t do anything and someone is still in there, then they’ll die. We have to at least check.”

“Judy—” Nick tried to say, but the rabbit had already gotten out of the cruiser and was walking up to the first house in the neighborhood. “That rabbit is going to be the death of me.”

Judy was already knocking on the door when Nick exited the car. “This is the police! Is anyone home?” No answer.

“Ok, Judy. That house is empty.” He gesticulated first by pointing at the house, then miming an empty box. “Sooo, we can go now.” He pointed towards himself and Judy before making his fingers walk along his arm. “Alright?” He put his thumbs up.

“Nick, they might not be right at the door. We have to give it some time.”

“Time is what we don’t have!” As if to emphasize his words, a loud “bang!” and a “whoomph!” came from a few hundred meters directly behind him. So slowly as to almost not be moving, his head turned. His ears folded back at the sight. They still had almost half an hour left! “...You should’ve listened to Bogo.”

Judy didn’t take it too well. Her ears fell, she began to cry, and it looked like her knees were about to collapse. “I… I know. I’m so sorry, Nick, I didn’t think, and, and you’re with me and now you’re stuck here too because of my dumb mistake and—”

Seeing Judy’s tears, Nick had no choice but to take a few metaphorical steps back. “No, Shhh, Carrots, it’s okay. We can still get out of this.” He crouched down to put his paws on her shorter shoulders, but...

“It’s you!” The voice had come from the door that Judy had just knocked on. A lock could be heard moving. Then another lock. And a chain. And a bar. And another lock. Finally, the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was a badger about Nick’s height, but significantly stockier. She wore camouflage overalls with a seemingly infinite amount of pockets and a plain white tee-shirt.

“Uh… Hi.” Nick hastily stood back up and straightened his uniform. Who was this badger and why did they have so many locks? Her appearance did seem to shift Judy’s focus away from her regret and back to work, though. As a matter of fact, if he hadn’t just seen it, Nick wouldn’t have suspected that she had just been crying at all.

“Ma’am, we need you to evacuate the area before more bombs go—”

“Whoomph!”

“—off… Err… Ma’am, you need to come with us right now… Umm… Hello? Can you hear me?” The badger was staring at the two of them as if in a trance. Her mouth was moving silently, but other than that she was completely still. “Ma’am? Ma’am!”

“Wha— Oh…” The badger’s gaze had shifted from the two cops to the end of the street, where flames were beginning to lick at the sky, seeming to notice that something wasn’t quite right only then.

“Are you alright, Miss?”

The badger turned her head back towards Nick, and her eyes lit up again. “Oh, yes. I’m fine.” What can I do for you, officers?” She said before adding an “I can’t believe it’s really them!” under her breath. Nick had experienced his fair share of celebrity status since helping to solve the Nighthowler case, but he had never seen someone fan-gasming this hard before, not even from Clawhauser at the Gazelle concert, and much less directed at him. He wasn’t sure what to think about it.

Judy was quick to hop onto the opportunity to insert some urgency into the badger's head. “We need you to come with us to leave the district while we still can.”

“Go with you, leave the district, got it!  _ They want me to go with them! _ ” She repeated, seemingly uncomprehendingly.

Nick and Judy shared a glance with each other. This was a curveball neither of them had been expecting. They started walking towards the car. The badger was following them, but slowly. Another bomb went off in the distance. “Miss, could you please save your fan-gasm for later? We kind of have to get going in about 5 minutes ago!”

By some miracle of existence, Nick’s comment seemed to work. As soon as he said it, she picked up her pace, running the rest of the way to the car and arriving just as the fox and rabbit were getting in. “Sorry about that. I got a little carried away, didn’t I?” She said, slightly abashedly.

“More than a little. Are you good now?”

“I think so. I’m still happy to be meeting you, but I’ve got it under control now, I think. My name’s Honey, err… Maude, by the way. Everyone calls me Honey, though.”

“Alright, then, Honey, get in the car so we can get you out of here.”

“Right! Getting in.”

Nick put his foot on the gas and began pulling out, but stopped. The end of the street was blocked. He looked over his shoulder. The other end was blocked too. “Change of plans, everybody! We’re leaving on foot. Honey, do you know any paths out?”

“Me?” She was clearly trying to hold back the excitement at being asked for help by her idols. “Yes! I know some.”

The three got out of the car and followed Honey between two houses and to a ladder.

“A ladder?” Judy asked.

“The ground is covered in roots and vines, so all of the fastest routes are aboveground.”

They climbed up about 20 feet before arriving at a platform. From there, they traversed three suspended bridges and up another ladder before the path was blocked. “What do we do now?” Honey wondered out loud. She was having far too much fun with this (She was going on an adventure with Nicholas Wilde and Judith Hopps!).

“If we climb higher, we might be able to see if there’s a path that doesn’t have fire in the way,” Judy suggested.

They went back to the previous platform, which had a ladder leading upward into the canopy layer of the jungle, and climbed. When they reached the top, what they could see was grim. They were in one of maybe half a dozen sections of the district that hadn’t yet caught fire but were completely surrounded. They were trapped. Only now did the reality of the situation seem to set in for Honey.

For a while, the three just sat there, watching the fire inch its way closer to their platform.  _ I’m not going to get another chance to tell her… This is so cliche, How many movies have I seen where this happens? _ “Judy… I—”

“Nick! Look!” There was a black speck approaching them. As it got closer, it became a helicopter. Judy started Jumping and waving her arms. A suit-wearing figure was standing on one of the skids, hanging onto the inside of the helicopter with one paw and reaching out with the other. The helicopter swung around and began to hover next to the platform.

Nick’s mouth opened. Then it closed, before opening once again.

“Don’t just stand there, get in the bloody helicopter already, mate!” The figure leaning out of the helicopter spoke in an extremely deep British accent.

“...Finnick?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right folks! A story where Finnick has a British accent. Just think about that for a while.  
Let us explain how this came about. A few weeks ago in Cimar's discord server, La Perlas asked for story ideas because she was having a bit of a writer's block. Jokingly, usernamesweretaken suggested a 'Finnick with a British accent AU', as well as a more serious suggestion which won't be mentioned here due to spoilers. We got talking, and the ideas merged and shifted slightly, and usernamesweretaken got inspired enough to ask to collaborate on it. La Perlas agreed, and here we are! That joke spawned an entire story.


	3. It's a Long Story

The helicopter floated above them, creating a whirlwind below. There were too many branches in the way for it to land on the tree, so instead a big caged gurney was lowered for the three mammals to get in. The little kit inside Nick was kind of disappointed by the lack of rope ladders like there were in action movies, but the rational, adult part of his head knew that the higher they got, the thicker the smoke would be, and while swinging on a ladder below the helicopter seemed cool, fainting from smoke inhalation and falling to his death did not. Tentatively, he and the other two mammals climbed in.

Finnick, if that’s who this fox really was (Finnick definitely wasn’t British, but he looked just like him), and a striped rabbit buck were quick to strap them in with seatbelts as soon as they were pulled up, wasted no time shoving oxygen masks to their muzzles.

Nick pulled his back off and sputtered out the only thing his brain could think of saying: “Fuh… Finnick?”

The fennec briefly chuckled, gently returning the mask to Nick’s mouth as he did so. “Yes, I’m Finnick. I’ll explain it all once we land.” Nick’s only response was a few blank blinks.

“Are they secured?” the arctic vixen flying the aircraft called out to the mammals in back. Her voice was tight, and the passengers could tell that she might have some trouble keeping things steady. This wouldn’t be a smooth ride. While the fire wasn’t directly below them yet, it was close, and the updrafts it caused would wreak havoc with the blades whirling above them.

Nick was a cautious mammal; living on the streets had taught him to think before acting, so he took on the strange situation before saying or doing anything that might make things worse. The rainforest district is on fire, he almost died but was saved by Finnick, who is for some reason talking in a British accent and wearing a sharp black suit. Yup, nothing out of the ordinary, really.

“I think I’m hallucinating,” he mumbled through the oxygen mask. Yeah, that had to be it.

The bunny buck heard him and begun to take his pulse while monitoring his vitals “You’ll be evaluated by a medical team as soon as we land,” he said reassuringly before turning to check on Judy.

The confused vulpine turned his attention to her as well. She looked a lot calmer and lucid than he felt, but she also had a dumbfounded expression. Could two mammals have the same hallucination?

Only when they arrived on the ground, or rather building top, and were checked by medical professionals, were the oxygen masks taken off. After several reassurances from the paramedics, claiming that they had no brain damage and that the little fennec fox in a suit was indeed real, Nick finally snapped.

“W TO THE FUCKING F, DUDE!?” he practically growled, facing his friend and bearing his teeth.

“I know chap, it’s a long story.” At least the smaller fox had the decency to look embarrassed, another distinctly un-Finnick like trait.

“I’ve got time,” he deadpanned.

Ignoring the snickers from the other two agents, Finnick groaned and pinched the bridge of his snout. “Look, I’m MI6, I’ve been working for the service for over a decade. I was sent to Zootopia to infiltrate the leader to the Todesregen mafia. We have good reason to believe they are probably financing the IRA. But you might know how their leader is a paranoid wanker, I knew the only way to get to him would be to do something major. The ZIA wanted in on the action so they suggested we kill his main competition as a way to gain his trust.”

“His main competition? There aren’t any other mobsters in Zootopia other than him and Mr. Big… Oh turnip seeds,” Judy piped in and groaned at the realization, ears drooping behind her back.

“You actually thought you could take down Big all by yourself?” Nick didn’t know whether to be outraged or laugh at Finn’s stupidity. He chose the latter and laughed so hard he didn’t even stop as a tiny foot connected to his knee cap and he was thrown off balance.

“Shut that muzzle up! I had a great plan and it would’ve worked if your big bloody tail hadn’t gotten in the way!” The fennec fox spat angrily.

Lifting himself from the ground and nursing his sore knee the red fox wiped a tear from his left eye while still chuckling. “And tell me, mister super-spy, how were you planning to do that?”

“Remember the skunk butt rug?” 

After hearing that the buck and the vixen burst out laughing, that plan had been ridiculous, but their pig-headed boss (no offense to pigs) was confident it would work. When it blew up in his face, all they could do was see the humor in it.

“So why the cheap knock off instead of the alpaca wool?” Nick asked, outraged.

“Hey, he wasn’t even supposed to find out about it! I was supposed to shoot him between the eyes right after delivery! But he insisted you come with me because you were the only one he trusted enough to do business with. When we faced Mr. Big he was surrounded by the polar bears. Now, I could have killed him and the bears without breaking a sweat. The snowflake and the Yankee Doodle we borrowed from the ZIA,” he said, pointing at the two snickering agents, “were nearby with sniper rifles and a buttload of semtex but your civilian tail was on the line and you would have gotten shot by a stray bullet within minutes. So I had to keep it cool, call off the attack and play it straight. The only reason we’re still alive is because that shrew can’t see straight and didn’t find out we scammed him until after his grandma died.”

“Yeah, and when his dumbass plan failed we all got punished,” Skye added, grumbling.

“We were ordered to keep our cover for years even when we got no further directives,” Finnick spat, frustrated at himself.

“You think you got punished? At least you kept your jobs, I was fired from the ZIA! My bank accounts were frozen and my cars were repossessed, I had to go live back with my mom for thicket’s sake.”

“Do all bunnies curse that way?” Nick asked, eyeing the vixen.

“Cute, isn’t it?” She said winking at him and both shared a laugh, to the great annoyance of lagomorphs present.

“Wait, so that’s why you approached me to begin with? You used me as an in to Mr. Big!” Nick was hurt, the only friend he ever made in his life (aside from Judy, of course, but she was different, and if he had his way she would be much more than that) was nothing but a lie; he was a pawn in Finnick's game.

“Yeah, you were just a way into the mafia,” came the gruff response.

“Then why the fuck did you stay with me after that?”

“Because I liked you,” the smaller fox said, a little embarrassed. “You were this soft-hearted fox trying to play tough on the streets but anyone with half a working brain could see that you were a soft pile of mush. Besides, I felt guilty for putting you at odds with the mafia. You made a lot of dangerous enemies overnight and I felt it was my responsibility to keep you out of trouble.”

The silence created as the information was processed only lasted a few moments until it was broken. “I’m sure you two have a lot more catching up to do, but this might be our chance, guys. We could bring both the mobsters and this terrorist down so we can go back home,” the vixen said hopefully. “And while we’re at it we should properly introduce ourselves. My name is Skye Frost, I was assigned with Finnick for this mission. This gentlemammal beside me is Jack Savage.”

“Nice to meet you,” the buck said smoothly.

“I’m officer Hopps,” Judy said, shaking their paws in the tone she often used for dealing with other authorities. She made her voice and posture firm and respectful while her smile was friendly.

“Nick Wilde,” Nick said, grumbling and avoiding eye contact. Nobody held it against him; he had every right to be grumpy.

when everyone turned to the only mammal that remained unintroduced, things got awkward. “Uhhh, my name is Maude Mustel, but my friends call me Honey. Officers Hopps and Wilde saved me from the fire.” She realized how out of place she was, a mere civilian surrounded by badasses during a large scale crisis. She hoped the ton of sensitive information she just heard didn’t put her at odds with the authorities.

Honey thought this should be exciting, and for the most part, it was. She was hanging out not only with the legendary police officers but also with two MI6 agents and one former ZIA. however, she wasn’t a badass with years of experience in combat or weapons usage, she was just an ordinary mammal that was rescued from a fire. It was relieving when she was once again ignored, the three agents beginning to plan a strategy. She was content to watch things unfold from a safe distance.

“So, we have a crazy psycho terrorizing the city and all we have to stop him are what? Two spy Brits being ignored by their government and a ZIA has been?” Nick grumbled sarcastically and wasn’t all too surprised when the buck elbowed him hard on the ribs, the death glare he threw his way didn’t scare him, not after dealing with similar glares from Judy almost every day for the last year.

“We will have to make due. If this terrorist tries again, we don’t know what might happen,” Skye answered determinedly.

“Actually, I might,” Honey interjected, finally making herself noticed after a moment of nervous deliberation. “The fire department managed to prevent some of the fires by previously activating the sprinkler system and bringing humidity to the area, and some of the bombs were deactivated. But whatever moisture remained is gone now. Should they try setting more fires, the whole rainforest would be burned to ashes. Not only that, but the heat could cause avalanches or even floods in Tundratown. Depending on the winds the fire could easily spread towards Savannah or Meadowlands. The routes connecting the different districts could be blocked by traffic, not to mention any avalanches or fire. Even assuming the terrorist doesn’t target the docks, getting supplies from one place to another could become impossible.”

Everyone was surprised at the sudden remark of the previously ignored badger. Not only was the information incredibly well thought out for a mammal that for all intents and purposes had seemed a bit clueless, not even leaving the district before the fire, but it was useful, eye-opening, and not something that any of the various government officials were aware of. However, the contents of the remark soon outweighed its source in the present mammals’ minds.

As the catastrophic scenario became realized in their minds, the mammals began to feel disheartened. Those that were Zootopia natives all reached for their phones so they could warn their friends and family. Nick and Jack called their parents while Judy called Fru Fru. If Tundratown was in danger she had to warn her. The police officer wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if something were to happen to her goddaughter.

The call connected and the shrill voice of her tiny friend was heard on the other side of the line.

“Hi, Judy!”

“Hi Fru. Look, I need to warn you about something.” Judy said cutting to the chase, there was no time to lose “The fire in the rainforest might be worse than we thought, you might be better off leaving Zootopia for a few days.” 

“Oh, I know that. I’m already leaving town with my family. Daddy didn’t want me near the ‘splatter zone’ as he likes to call it.” She didn’t sound scared at all, rather, she talked like someone heading for a vacation while her house was remodeled. “He’s very angry at this terrorist guy.”

“Splatter zone?” Judy said worriedly; she didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yeah, he made Koslov and the other guys get a lot of weapons and such, they were so excited! I heard them talking before I left and they kept saying they hadn’t been assigned this much wet work in years.”

The bunny’s ears dropped as she was overcome with dread “Do you know what they’re up to?” She asked, trying to sound calm over the phone.

“Not really, but if I were you I’d stay home on this one. Last time the guys got this happy a lot of mean mammals got hurt. Don’t worry about the terrorist. Daddy will take care of him, and maybe the Todesregen if he gets a bit carried away.” She giggled musically. “He’s such a sweet person but you know how he is when he gets angry.”

While the others finished their own phone calls and continued trying to make a viable plan, Judy hung up and approached the group with a somber expression.

“Big is sending his bears against the terrorist, and there’s a possibility that he goes after the other mafia as well,” she interrupted, her voice grave but soft.

“So we have a mob war on our paws now, too?” Nick asked fearfully. Oh, this day just kept getting better. Why not add a meteor strike or something as well, while we’re at it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! Have a chapter with absolutely zero relevance to the Holiday! Coincidental release date aside, we’d like to know what you think about our versions of everyone, especially Finnick. While the whole ‘British Finnick’ thing started as a joke, we’re taking it seriously now and would like to make sure that we get it right. Any and all feedback that you have would be greatly appreciated, and will most certainly be considered as we write the chapters to come.


	4. A bit of haunting.

As it turned out, what happened next was far worse than an asteroid strike: the terrorist decided to try again. Another recording was sent to the press, stating that there were still bombs hidden and, once again, twenty-four hours to find the mob boss until they would go off.

After determining the full ramifications of the scenario, the group had decided to let Nick, Judy and Honey recover from the day before doing anything else. Honey was placed in a hotel across from the embassy, while Nick and Judy would be heading to the precinct to check in and then back to their homes for the night.

One thing that they may have forgotten, however, was contacting the precinct first. When the fox and rabbit walked through the door, the portly cheetah managing the desk turned his head towards them and froze, his mouth slowly dropping open.

"Uh... You alright there, spots?" Nick asked, waving his paw in front of the large feline's face.

As if a dam was broken, words began to flow out of Clawhauser’s mouth. "OhemgoodnessIthoughtyouweredeadpleasedon'tbeahallucinationpleasedon'tbeahallucination-!"

"Whoah, slow down, Ben, what are you trying to say?"

After an inhale that lasted a few seconds too long for comfort, Ben replied, "I thought you were dead! You turned off your radio, and then the bombs went off, and your radio wasn't working, and you didn't answer your phones, we all thought you were dead, and..." He inhaled again but was cut off before he could resume.

"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers! We're so sorry! We didn't think to contact anyone after we got rescued!" Judy interrupted.

"Yeah, after seeing who rescued us, we couldn't really think of much else," Nick continued, but received a small fist to his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"I don't think we were supposed to say anything about that! What if that information got out?"

"Carrots... I'm sure that Spots here won't say anything to anyone. Will you?"

Ben, who had been watching the exchange first in confusion, and then curiosity, shook his head.

"See? It won't be a big deal. Anyway, we should probably go talk to Buffalo Butt. We'll tell you the story later."

"Uh... Right! should I tell him you're on your way?"

Nick thought for a moment. "Nah. I want to see the look on his face when we walk in the door."

"Nick!" Judy would have punched him again, but he was already halfway to the staircase. "Ugh. We'll catch up with you later, Ben."

"So... should I tell the chief?" The cheetah asked, but Judy had already started running after Nick. "I guess not..." He pulled a donut out from somewhere beneath the desk and took a bite, smiling. His friends were back.

The next thing Ben heard was a loud crash and a shout of "WILDE!?"

As Judy pushed her head through the open door to Chief Bogo's office, the first thing she saw was an almost hyperventilating buffalo. Second, she saw a chair on its side, one wheel still spinning.

"What are you doing here?" said buffalo asked, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, you know, the usual. A bit of haunting. Lurking is also quite fun." Nick flashed his trademark grin.

Bogo's eyes widened and he actually started looking pale, even through his fur.

"Nick! Stop it! You shouldn't make jokes about your death!"

Judy's remark did nothing to soothe the distressed buffalo looking down at them.

"Chief, we're sorry about turning the radio off. We should have left like you told us to. If we had, all of this could have been avoided," she said, starting to grow concerned for the much larger mammal.

Nick meanwhile, had bent over trying not to laugh.

"What is it?" Judy asked when whines began escaping him.

In response, he stopped trying to hold it in and just burst out laughing. It took him a full ten seconds to calm down enough to actually say anything. "It... Just... You made-" He burst out laughing again, and had to calm himself for a few more seconds before he could continue. "Everything that you said could make it seem even more like we-" He had to hold in another laugh "we really did die!"

Judy's face morphed into a mask of concern as it sank in. "Oh my gosh, Bogo, we're not dead! I'm sorry!" She said quickly. "We got rescued. We're OK."

It took a few seconds for the tension to leave Bogo’s face. After a few deep breaths, he fell back into his chair.

...Except the chair wasn't there. He had knocked it down when Nick entered the room. The crash that resulted from his fall could almost certainly be heard throughout the entire precinct. Nick folded completely in half, wheezing and whining in even harder laughter than before.

Soon, another gasping, separate from Nick’s could be heard. “Is… *huff* Is everyone alright in here?” Benjamin asked as he arrived at the door.

“Wow! That must be a new record! Seven seconds to climb two flights of stairs, if you started at the crash. Great job, Spots!” Nick announced.

“Wilde won’t be,” Bogo replied simultaneously.

Judy was going to say “I think so,” but she noticed something. The sound of vulpine laughter hadn’t stopped when Nick made his remark to Clawhauser. On closer listening, she identified it’s source as the phone on Bogo’s desk.

Nick must have noticed it as well, because his ears perked towards it and he asked: “Is that…”

“Yes, that is your mother. I was in the middle of a call with her before you came in here unannounced and nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Nick walked to the desk and reached up to hold the massive phone to his ear.

“Hi, mom!” he greeted casually.

“...”

“I know, right?”

“...”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me! Have you seen-”

Bogo took the phone from Nick. “I apologize for the inconvenience Ms. Wilde, but I need to have a very important conversation with your son  _ right now _ ,” he said with a sideways glance at Nick and hung up. “Clawhauser, cut Wilde’s pay for next month. Also, make sure no one comes into my office for the next twenty minutes,” his tone of voice leaving no room for argument.

“Yes, sir!” Ben replied somewhat nervously before he closed the door and began the descent back to his desk.

"You two better have an extremely good explanation for everything that happened from when you turned off your radio to get to this situation," Bogo scowled.

Judy took a deep breath and began to talk. "We were in the last neighborhood when you called us, and I wanted to finish going through it. When I turned off the radio, Nick tried to stop me, but I... didn't listen to him," she recalled. "I got out of the car and started knocking on doors. We found one civilian, but right when they opened their door, the bombs went off. There was one on both sides of the street, preventing us from leaving in the car. Luckily, the civilian we were evacuating knew the area well enough to guide us out on foot. But then one of the bridges that we were going to use was burned down, and when we got high enough to see a possible route out, we were already pretty much surrounded."

"You said you 'got rescued.' Was it the civilian that rescued you?"

"No, it was a multinational coalition of secret agents."

"Wilde! One more remark out of you and I'll you'll be on parking duty for the rest of the year!"

"I'm serious chief. We were rescued by a bunch of secret agents from multiple countries."

"As crazy as it sounds, believe me, we were surprised too, he's telling the truth."

"Let me guess. You signed an NDA so you don't actually have any proof of it?" Bogo deadpanned

"Nah. I have their phone numbers if you want to see it."

"Prove it."

"If you insist." Nick pulled out his phone and messaged Finnick. [Hey mammal, you're a secret agent right? I need to prove it to my boss.]

It took only a few seconds for a chime to sound as Finnick responded with an image of himself in a suit, his ID and british passport were splayed in his tiny paws. [I assume you understand the importance that you delete this image as soon as Bogo sees it, the police are not supposed to be involved in this matter]. Even though he was expecting it, it still shocked Nick a little to see such formal language coming out of the fennec, text or otherwise.

Nick held out the phone for Bogo to see. Bogo had to squint in order to make out the image on the small device, but as his gaze moved up the screen and at the previous messages, his eyes widened. "Wilde, stay in after this meeting. I need to have a discussion with you in private."

Nick, realizing what Bogo was referring to, shot his phone back into his pocket so quickly that it could only be seen as a blur.

"What is it, Nick?"

"Uhh... Nothing. I'll... I'll tell you later," he promised, mostly to himself. "Anyway! Why don't we get back to this explanation?" he asked with slightly too much enthusiasm.

"...Right..." Bogo replied. "How did these agents rescue you?"

"Helicopter. They pulled us up and took us to the roof of the embassy building, along with the civilian. We talked a bit about the terrorist, and we were thinking about working together to bring them down. If they get to set off more bombs, it would be even worse than it was this time. The moisture added by spraying what little water was left in the rainforest irrigation system before the fire is now gone, so, the fires would be even worse than before. It could even get all the way to Tundratown and cause avalanches all along the border."

"Alright. This is the most important question, so listen carefully," Bogo said. "Why didn't you respond when we called your phones?"

"You called us? My phone never rang..." Nick replied

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent. Not even a voicemail."

"Wait... Didn't we set up signal jammers to try to prevent the activation devices on the bombs from working?" Judy pondered. "That could have prevented us from receiving calls."

"...We did." The buffalo sighed. "...I guess that ended up hurting us more than it helped."

Bogo asked a few more questions but soon enough, the interrogation was over. This was the part that Nick dreaded. He'd have to talk to the chief about... that. Maybe he'd have forgotten?

Nick turned to leave alongside Judy, but Bogo hadn't forgotten. "Wilde."

"Yes sir," Nick resigned himself to his fate.

"You have some very... interesting... messages with that agent friend of yours. How did you meet anyway? You seem to have known him since before he rescued you."

Oh, great. Bogo was going to drag this out. Let him suffer as he anticipated the questions that he knew were coming. "I didn't actually know that he was an agent until he rescued me. Up until then, he had always been pretty much the most stereotypical Zootopian 'tough guy' you had ever met. When he leaned out of that helicopter and I heard a British accent, I just about shut down. I didn’t know the rest of his crew before today."

"That sounds like the premise to a shitty sitcom, Wilde."

"I know. I'm still having trouble processing it." Why did this Buffalo have to drag it out!? He's even grinning!

"Do you think that you'll still be friends with him?"

"Oh, yeah. He's still Finnick. Just a more polite version," Nick replied. "...Screw it. I'm done waiting for you to get to the questions this whole meeting was for. Just ask them already!"

Bogo’s grin got wider, he was like a poker player with an ace up his sleeve "I wasn't going to ask any questions. I just wanted to have some fun. Do you think I haven't seen you two?"

"What?" Nick deadpanned, uncomprehending.

Bogo stood up and walked towards the door, Nick automatically following him. "A word of advice, tell her sooner rather than later." Nick’s mouth dropped open. Grinning, Bogo shut the door to his office, blocking Nick out before he could ask any more questions.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character of Roarke Tuscanelli belongs to HOJ 666. He has been featured in his stories and is used with his permission.

That afternoon Nick and Judy met the rest of the team in Skye’s apartment since she was the only one that didn’t live in a place the size of a shoebox or with her parents, hell Finnick lived in a van and that was by choice. They had to regroup and plan on how to stop this guy. The vixen and the buck hare were making lunch while Finnick and the rest planned for their next course of action.

Nick couldn’t help but notice a synchronicity between Jack and Skye as they worked. They both always seemed to know exactly what needed to be done when, and who would do it. They didn’t even appear to need to communicate. If Jack needed something he couldn’t reach, Skye would wordlessly hand it to him seemingly without removing any attention from her current task. They were both constantly moving through and around the kitchen, yet somehow never in each-other’s way.

The red fox couldn’t help but feel longing at the way the hare and the vixen handled themselves in the kitchen. It was all too easy for him to picture himself and Judy in their place. Maybe he could tell her jokes while doing the dishes and she would giggle while fixing dessert. Before he knew it, lunch was ready and he realized he had been daydreaming like a moron instead of thinking about how to move forward with the investigation.

Finnick grumbled while chewing his fish steak. “This guy needed funding. The bombs were pretty cheap, as far as bombs go, but the two hundred liters of gasoline he put next to them weren't. And this guy made it pretty clear how poor he is in that message.”

“And that’s assuming he isn’t lying,” Skye said somberly.

“I’m afraid that if we second guess the few pieces of information we have, then we won’t have a place to start. Let’s just take his speech at face value until we have evidence to the contrary,” The small fox said, drinking a glass of wine with the gentle dexterity of a connoisseur. Not for the first time, Nick wondered if he had suffered a stroke during the fire. This fox was sometimes almost nothing like the Finnick he knew, but at other times the only difference seemed to be his voice.

“Have you checked for any abnormal patterns in purchase histories?” Judy asked, shoveling a pile of salad larger than Nick’s head into her bowl. Even Jack, a fellow lagomorph, was shocked by how much she could eat.

“Where does she put it?” he mouthed to Nick while the doe began digging into the deep bowl.

“She never stops moving, mammal, seriously I get tired just from watching her sometimes,” Nick whispered back.

Finnick remained professional during the meal, another thing uncharacteristic of Nick’s view of him. “Yes. We checked all the major suppliers for gasoline since it’s the only thing he bought in bulk and we came up empty, nobody outside of gasoline stations has purchased that large of a quantity. He must have just bought it little by little and stored it. Thank god the MI6 is willing to help us gather data because we got nothing from the ZIA.” The fennec threw an accusing glare at Jack.

“Well if only I had STAYED in the ZIA instead of getting FIRED,” Jack fired back.

“I’m sure they’ll take you back once we catch this bomber,” Skye told jack while petting him between the ears, which did not escape Nick’s notice. Combined with how well the two collaborated in the kitchen, he began to suspect that more was going on behind the scenes with Jack and Skye than he first imagined.

“They better, or I’ll be the only one here risking my life for free,” the hare grunted while his tail shook a little at the display of affection.

“Now if I were a criminal lowlife, where would I get the supplies needed for this whole thing?” Nick mused.

“The dark web,” Judy answered, selecting a large piece of carrot cake for dessert.

“And where would I get my money to buy all that stuff if I were broke?” Nick said with a sly grin.

Judy finished off the cake, breadcrumbs and sugar still smudged all over her tiny muzzle, making her look like a messy toddler. “He could steal or get a loan, but no bank is going to loan to someone this poor if they don’t already have a usage plan and profits mapped out.”

“Unless they borrowed from a loan shark,” Nick responded

Finnick nodded “There are a few loan sharks around Zootopia, plenty, in fact. It would take us a lot of time to comb through them. Unless someone knew who would be crazy enough to deal with a terrorist.”

“If anything illegal is happening on the streets there’s a good chance Weaselton would know about it,” Nick said while drinking his coffee. “I think his pirated movies are just a front, he probably makes more money as a criminal live version of LinkedIn.”

“We’ll go to Weaselton then,” Judy said with that cute peppy smile that drew perps to a false sense of confidence, yet Nick knew better and could notice the pure madness in those adorable purple eyes.

“Carrots, Mr. Big probably has a lot on his plate right now, there must be another way to make him talk,” Nick said, reading Judy’s face and remembering how they had to hang Weaselton over a frozen lake to make him talk the last time they needed him to snitch on other criminals.

Jack and Skye frowned at the mention of the powerful mafia boss, turning to look at Finnick. He just shrugged and mouthed “It’s a long story.”

A few hours later they caught Weaselton selling his pirated DVDs on the side of Savannah square. At first the weasel refused to even talk to them.

“What is this? Another fluffbutt with a badge? What are you gonna do, snuggle me to death?” he said, throwing a used toothpick at Jack.

“Listen here, you little runt, we have a terrorist in our paws destroying the rainforest and if I even think there is a tiny chance that you can help us stop this, I will make you talk, whether you like it or not,” Skye said, placing herself between the weasel and the hare, baring her teeth.

The arctic vixen’s protectiveness of Jack did not go unnoticed by Nick, and combined with their behavior during lunch, it all but confirmed his suspicions. He wanted to ask them about it, but now was not the time. He would have to wait until later, when they were alone.

Unperturbed, Weaselton lifted an eyebrow and scoffed. “Should’ve said it before. I’ll answer your questions, ask away.”

The four mammals looked at each other, flabbergasted. “Really?” they all asked in unison.

“Hey! I am an entrepreneur, not a monster. I have family in the rainforest, you know.”

“Okay, that was easier than I thought,” Jack said, relieved he didn’t have to torture someone; it wasn’t something he took pleasure in.

When they asked him about loan sharks that would give founding for such an operation the weasel was quick to reply.

“Look, I only know one guy who would give more than five hundred dollars without a background check. Hell, he’s even an anti-government crazy survivalist, wouldn’t be surprised if he was in on the attack…”

“Duke, if you knew something so important for the investigation why didn’t you come forward before?” Judy asked.

“If I showed up to the ZPD with this information would you have believed me? Or would you have thrown me in jail and accused me of being an accessory?” The weasel spat with a rabid look on his beady eyes.

“What kind of monsters do you think we are? We don’t go around putting mammals in jail without reason,” Judy said crossing her arms and frowning at the weasel, she was tired of the way the press made all cops look like speciest jerks with happy trigger paws.

Weaselton gave Nick a dry look and the fox slumped a little. He had the privilege of seeing things from both sides, on one paw it was true that the rumors surrounding the police force were exaggerated but on the other he understood where those rumors came from. “Carrots not ALL cops are abusing their authority, but it is true that a few of them do, I’ve seen it myself. Weaselton does have a valid reason not to trust us”

“Nick,” Judy said in that sympathetic gentle voice she used whenever she discovered something painful about his past, as he brushed her off with his usual smile she wondered if he had experience dealing with police brutality before. If that were the case then whoever was involved in it would pay, she would make sure of it.

“Touche.” Nick conceded to the weasel. “Now tell us more about this loan shark.”

They wouldn’t waste much more time or effort in trying to bring down the loan shark on their own, they notified the ZPD who was quick to send a SWAT team to the suspect’s house. Their target was a boar named Roarke Tuscanelly, his criminal record was filled with misdemeanors that on their own shouldn’t be so bad, but altogether raised one red flag after the other, from larceny to assault and even incitement of species crimes. If he hadn’t funded the attack he probably would have probably caused it himself. 

They were in Sahara Square in the dock area, surrounding the abandoned warehouse where the crazy boar chose to live and form a headquarter in. It looked like any other house on the outside, but the inside was full of reserves of food, tools, and other resources, looking almost like the set of some post-apocalypse show.

It was hard for the whole team to infiltrate the bunker, the crazy guy had set up several traps and alarms all around the property. He even had security cameras around his bunker so as soon as the swat team came close to the building, several traps were activated and small bombs detonated below the officers feet. Einhorn, a huge rhino officer made the mistake of tripping over a wire that set up an explosion, because of it he ended up falling and tripping over wolford who was right behind him. The rhino only suffered first degree burns on his feet but the poor wolf he fell over would be in pain for weeks. Breaking inside the building was just the first trial, once the SWAT  team crossed the threshold the slimy fat paranoid redneck boar quartered himself on his small panic room and begun to shoot at the officers from a tiny window carved in the middle of the steel door.

“You disgusting slime! You’ll never catch me alive!” Tuskanelli hollered from the tiny window where the muzzle of a large rifle peeked through.

Thank god for the protective gear the precinct bought with the larger budget they were given this year, or many more officers would have ended up hurt.

The only thing to do was wait outside the panic room until he ran out of ammo, in the meantime a professional negotiator did her best to calm him down but after several hours spent in a conversation with the terrorist, the exhausted beaver just said “Can’t argue with these nutcases.”

The raid took over ten hours, in the end two elephant officers swiftly tore the iron door like it was made of aluminum. Once it was all over Trunkaby and Delgato were tasked with cuffing him, the large mammals were much bigger than him, trained in combat and pissed off after such a long raid yet they were still having a lot of difficulty to contain him. He kept screaming that the police had trampled his rights by not showing up without a warrant, that it was his constitutional right to bear arms and that he was a victim of Zootopia’s corrupt government.

“Freedom to the mammals!” The boar screamed as they dragged him to the police car, knowing there were news reporters covering the incident, in his head he probably thought he was a hero or martyr. After such a long day it took a lot of willpower for Delgato to not slam the guys head on the side of the car.

Now in the interrogation room of the precinct the crazy conspiracy theorist knew better than to speak up when questioned, and the biggest, meanest mammals in the ZPD did nothing on his resolve. Then a tiny chinchilla came to the precinct, she was the DA in charge of his case. The tiny ball of fluff faced the boar with a document that said he was facing terrorism charges which would easily land him the death penalty. In exchange for a reduced undisclosed sentence in Guanfaunamo, Tuskanelli gave them the name they needed.

Julien Vargas.


End file.
